Dara O’Shea believes Town belong in the Premier League as the Blues are 90 minutes away from securing their spot back at English football’s top table.

After a 22-year absence, Town returned to the top flight following promotion two seasons ago but were immediately relegated back to the Championship after winning just four league matches across the campaign.

While life back in the second tier has not been straightforward, the Blues head into Saturday’s home match with Queens Park Rangers knowing that victory would secure a second-place finish and achieve an immediate return to the Premier League.

Asked what it would mean to lead the club to promotion, skipper O’Shea says success this weekend would be deserved for everyone associated with Town.

“It means a lot,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if I’m captain or not, I want to get promoted. I want to get this club back in the Premier League and I want to be a part of that like everybody else in our squad.

“This club belongs in the Premier League — the way we’re going, the ambitions and the people in the club deserve it. It’s just about going out and earning that right.

“Three points puts us back in the Premier League so that’s the main aim, and hopefully we can do that.

“It’s obviously an amazing group. Any group that gives themselves a chance to get promoted is always going to be a special group.

“We’ve had a lot of challenges this season and I think the way we’ve come back from them, the way we’ve stayed together and strong, and built that connection with the fans has been great.

“There’s a lot of unsung heroes in our group, players who haven’t played as many minutes as they’d have liked to, but they’ve definitely given a lot in training and pushed us. That’s what makes us successful is everybody together and how we go about things day in, day out.

“Our results do come from the hard work we put in here at the training ground, and that’s every single person whether you’re playing or not. That’s been the way it has all season. To see how much we’ve grown as a group is a testament to how hard we’ve worked together.”

The likes of Wes Burns, Christian Walton, Leif Davis, and George Hirst have played for the Blues in each of the top three divisions, having risen from League One and played a significant role in the club’s two recent promotions to date.

Meanwhile, boss Kieran McKenna could become the first boss in Town history to achieve three promotions — with the possibility of doing so within his first four full seasons as a senior manager.

O’Shea said: “Them lads have told us stories of the past, the feelings they had, and the excitement that came with that. It’s really valuable to have them there who have done that with this club.

“When you bring in the likes of other players like Ashley Young who’s got a wealth of experience, there’s no one else who can prep you better for a game like this.

“The squad has got a really good mix of having that experience in different moments and helping players who maybe haven’t been there before, it’s exciting.

“When you hear the stories of what the lads said in previous years here, they say it’s the best moments of their career and I want to have that feeling with this club. If we can do that, that will definitely be there.”

O’Shea is in his first season as the Blues’ captain after taking over the armband from Sam Morsy, who departed the club after four years in Suffolk last summer.

The Republic of Ireland international is keen to make his own history and believes he has grown into his role as the leader in the dressing room over the course of the campaign.

“I think so, I’m always constantly growing,” he said. “Until the day I retire, I’ll always be growing and learning, and that’s the way I am as a person. I want to learn, I’m hungry to learn, and I sponge off people.

“It’s been a season where I’ve learned a lot about myself and I think I’m definitely continuing to help the lads in that way. I try my best, the one thing I can honestly say is that every game I go out, I try my best, and that’s that.

“If I don’t have a good game, it’s not down to a lack of trying. That’s what I’m proud of and that’s the way I’ll continue to push on, help myself and help others around me.

“We’re always on this journey that we’re trying to improve and get better. You win games and you try to kick on, you lose games and you try and learn as much as you can from them. I think we’ve done that this season.

“There never comes a game where we’ll play it and we’ll put it to the side, we’ll always look back on what we can do and what we’ve done well to gain confidence in and what we can do better.

“Tuesday night [against Southampton] was a great showing of how we are as a team and the football that we love to play.

“We’re in a great place, it’s just about going out and putting in another 90 minutes of football that will show and prove we are a team in the ascendancy and we have learnt a lot this season. Hopefully we’ll find ourselves back in the Premier League.”

There are very few ever-present players in the Championship this season, but O’Shea can claim to be one of those, having played every minute of Town’s 45 league matches thus far.

Remarkably, the defender has started all 80 league games since his debut.

He said: “It’s great that I’ve been able to do that up to this point. Hopefully I can go the full way and complete every minute. I need to be there for my teammates and they need to be there for me.

“They’ve been there for me, and I’d like to think I’ve been there for them this season. One of the best traits to have is availability, and I’ve been that this season so it’s something that I’m proud of.”

On going the whole season without a yellow card to his name, the 27-year-old added: “That’s another one too, I don’t want to speak too soon!”

Photo: TWTD